Recall Gray Davis.Com featured
on MSNBC's Buchanan and Press To view the video of Howard Kaloogian on Buchanan
and Press, For high speed connections, click here For slower internet connections, click here Transcript: PRESS: You're watching BUCHANAN & PRESS. Big political news out of California: If Governor Gray Davis thought he was safe when he was reelected last year, think again. He now faces the prospect of a recall campaign, a special election this year. Joining us live from San Diego is the chair of the Recall Gray Davis Committee, former Assemblyman Howard KALOOGIAN. Mr. KALOOGIAN, thank you so much for joining us. HOWARD KALOOGIAN, RECALL GRAY DAVIS COMMITTEE: Thank you for having me, Bill. PRESS: But I've got to ask you, you took on Gray Davis last year. You took your best shot and you lost. Why don't you just live with reality and move on and talk about George Bush, reelecting him in 2004, or taking Barbara Boxer out in 2004? KALOOGIAN: I love that, Bill, because that's a very predictable question. He hid the information from us during the last campaign about the seriousness of the budget deficit, about how bad this state is being managed today. Back when he was first elected four years ago, he had a surplus of $12 billion that he came into office with. And even after the one-time revenue sources have gone down, even after the stock market has crashed and the dot-com bubble has burst, we still have 28 percent more revenue coming into the state coffers here in California than back then. And yet we have a $35 billion deficit that he didn't discover until days after the election. BUCHANAN: All right, Howard KALOOGIAN, he does have a $35 billion deficit. It is a disaster area up there in Sacramento. He deceived the public. He is down to 25 percent approval, or whatever it is. Why not leave him in there and let him and the Democratic Party work with this monster? And they're all going to be in a mess. PRESS: Monster? Pat. BUCHANAN: They're going to be cutting -- they'll be cutting spending all over the place. They'll be raising taxes on everybody. Let them go ahead and do it and wipe them all out in 2004. KALOOGIAN: A very good point, Pat. There are a number of people who are saying that that would be exactly what would happen. The problem is, of course, in the meantime, we devastate this state. And this is my home. I love it here. It's a beautiful place to be and I want to stay. But every time that you look at any issue, whether it's energy or taxes or traffic or the environment, he is making a mess of things here. And I don't want to see this state be ruined. I don't want to see the golden luster come off it. And so we want to change the person who's responsible for this. BUCHANAN: All right, you're going to change the person. So, I think you get 900,000 signatures. KALOOGIAN: That's correct. BUCHANAN: You get the recall petition on the ballot. Half of the votes plus one takes him out. KALOOGIAN: That's correct. BUCHANAN: And then you can put in your own candidate, who, all he has to do is win by a plurality, 30 percent, if there's 5,000 or 6,000. KALOOGIAN: That's correct. BUCHANAN: Who are you going to put in the race against him? KALOOGIAN: That's not my call. It would be whoever the people of California choose at that point. And, frankly, I would rather take somebody out of the white pages at random than this person, because he has devastated the state in every aspect. The energy crisis and the budget crisis are the two great legacies of this administration. And it's going to harm us for generations. PRESS: Howard, let's get real, OK. I put an initiative on the ballot in California back in 1980. I know this business. You're going to get 900,000 signatures in 160 days. That's going to cost you at least $2 million. Then you got to turn around and run a statewide campaign in California, which is going to cost you $35 million. The question is, this weekend, at the California Republican Convention, why should the Republican Party of California buy this program from you to spend all this time and all this money, which is probably going to be a losing cause, because you know Gray Davis can raise twice as much money as you can with his hands tied behind his back? KALOOGIAN: Well, if there is one thing that's surprising Gray Davis, as he's formed to stopped the recall committee, is that people don't want to support him this time around, because they don't like him. They don't like what he's proposing. They don't like what he's doing. They don't like the fact that he's cutting education and he's cutting our public safety with our budgets to our firefighters and police. And so, frankly, Bill, I'm not asking the Republican Party to do this. I'm a private citizen and I'm helping to do this, because I want this done in my state. And we've put up a Web site, RecallGrayDavis.com. And we have had over a million hits to that Web site. We have got over 20,000 people at RecallGrayDavis.com who have signed up to circulate petitions. If each of them does only 50 signatures, we've got the initiative. You know yourself, Bill, from having done this and from having lived here, that you can get things on the ballot. I'm not asking anything from the Republican Party. PRESS: I also know there have been 118 recalls tried in the state of California. Only four of them have succeeded; 32 against governors and none of them have succeeded. You're wasting your time, sir. KALOOGIAN: It is a big task. It is a big task. There's no doubt. BUCHANAN: We got Rose Bird, here, though, don't we, Howard? KALOOGIAN: We have gross mismanagement. BUCHANAN: We have got Rose Bird in spades. And we can take him out. KALOOGIAN: That's correct. PRESS: He wasn't governor of California. KALOOGIAN: We have people upset with him for a reason, though, Bill. And that's something that you have to understand. He has hurt us in many categories. And we simply don't want to destroy our quality of life. PRESS: Dream on. KALOOGIAN: And so come to RecallGrayDavis.com. BUCHANAN: A great populist movement. Good luck, Howard, on that great populist cause. PRESS: All right, thanks, Howard. KALOOGIAN: Thank you. . BUCHANAN: We'll come out and give you a hand.
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